Censorship

The lingering symbol of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games--the statues of two nude, headless athletes at the peristyle entrance of the Coliseum--will remain undraped during the start of the Olympic torch relay Saturday morning.

LONDON -- The British Broadcasting Corp. faced a dilemma Friday: Would it play "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead" when everyone knows the song has become a biting reference to the late Margaret Thatcher? The network's solution: turn the song into a sound bite. Amid divisive reactions to the death of the former prime minister on Monday, anti-Thatcher protesters have campaigned to bring the song from the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" to the top of the charts in time for a BBC program Sunday night that counts down the current top hits.

The painting of Mao Tse-tung as a Renaissance saint was too risky for the Shanghai 2000 Biennial. The photo of a man eating a dead baby was too disturbing. The works, rejected by the Shanghai Art Museum's official contemporary art show, went on display at private galleries. That's when police raided a gallery and seized the exhibits. The two-month Biennial, with 67 artists from 15 countries, is China's bid to join the club of biannual art extravaganzas led by Venice and New York City.

GUANGZHOU, China - Like wedding guests separated across the aisle, the protesters assembled on either side of a gated driveway at the headquarters of the embattled Southern Weekly newspaper. To the right, several dozen supporters of the newspaper staff waved banners calling for an end to censorship of the Chinese press. "Freedom!" they chanted. "Democracy!" "Constitutional rights!" To the left, beneath fluttering red Chinese flags and hoisted portraits of Mao Tse-tung, a battalion of mostly older men shouted into a microphone, trying to drown out their ideological rivals.

What did it mean? The half-page ad--echoing the tone of loyalty oaths that cowardly television networks made their employees sign during the "Red-scare" frenzy in the decade following World War II--appeared in several hundred newspapers Nov. 4-5. Out of the blue. No explanation. This was the title: "An Open Letter to the American People." This was the text: "Burger King wishes to go on record as supporting traditional American values on television, especially the importance of the family.

Re "Silencing Sebelius," Editorial, May 18 Last month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishopscondemned Rep. Paul D. Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget as contrary to Roman Catholic social doctrine. Also, dozens of faculty members at Georgetown University issued an open letter protesting Ryan's speech at the school. Yet The Times did not editorialize on this attempt to "silence" Ryan. At issue here is not the silencing of Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, but a protest against a Catholic institution providing a forum to a Catholic who has publicly challenged the doctrines of her own faith.

Re "Journalism on trial," editorial, Dec. 30 Why get so exercised about the punishment of journalists in China when the voluntary press censorship regarding government policies and behavior is so blatant right here at home? If, three years ago and ever since, our nation's press had been less eager to support obviously dangerous policies, and warned this administration regarding war in the Middle East, we wouldn't be sunk in the mire of the present war in Iraq. Voluntary censorship is just about as bad as state-ordered censorship, because the end results are the same.

Regarding Coleen Ary's letter regarding birth control education (Jan. 15), I have only this to say: Coleen, you just don't get it. This is not an issue of birth control; it is an issue of control, period. We students are "angry" all right, but it is not merely against your group's desire to deny birth control education to us. It is against your group's desire to censor education itself. Censoring birth control information is the beginning of banning books, inclusion of prayer in schools and other acts of censorship supporting the views of religious extremists seeking to control public education nationwide.

Chinese author Mo Yan was announced in October as the recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature; he's in Sweden now and will be presented with the award Monday. It was at a news conference in Stockholm that Mo made his disappointing statements in support of censorship. The Associated Press reports, "Mo said he doesn't feel that censorship should stand in the way of truth but that any defamation, or rumors, ' should be censored .' " The Nobel laureate then compared censorship to airport security checks.

GUANGZHOU, China - Like wedding guests separated across the aisle, the protesters assembled on either side of a gated driveway at the headquarters of the embattled Southern Weekly newspaper. To the right, several dozen supporters of the newspaper staff waved banners calling for an end to censorship of the Chinese press. "Freedom!" they chanted. "Democracy!" "Constitutional rights!" To the left, beneath fluttering red Chinese flags and hoisted portraits of Mao Tse-tung, a battalion of mostly older men shouted into a microphone, trying to drown out their ideological rivals.

GUANGZHOU, China -- Communist Party officials appear to have defused a potential crisis over media censorship in Guangzhou with a compromise that persuaded journalists at a maverick newspaper to publish Thursday as planned. The journalists at Southern Weekly, one of China's boldest and most popular publications, had threatened to strike in protest over a New Year's editorial on political reform that was watered down by propaganda officials. The exact terms of the deal were not released, but it appears that the journalists agreed to refrain from airing their grievances in public about Tuo Zhen, the propaganda chief for Guangdong province accused of the heavy-handed censorship that sparked the standoff.

BEIJING -- For years, China's net nannies turned the other cheek to a loophole in their vast online censorship apparatus. Anyone who wanted access to blocked overseas websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and more recently, the New York Times, need only download foreign software called a virtual private network (VPN) to circumvent the Great Firewall. But in recent weeks, even these tools have begun to falter, frustrating tech-savvy Chinese and foreign businesspeople who now struggle to access Internet sites as innocuous as gmail.com and imdb.com.

Chinese author Mo Yan was announced in October as the recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature; he's in Sweden now and will be presented with the award Monday. It was at a news conference in Stockholm that Mo made his disappointing statements in support of censorship. The Associated Press reports, "Mo said he doesn't feel that censorship should stand in the way of truth but that any defamation, or rumors, ' should be censored .' " The Nobel laureate then compared censorship to airport security checks.

BEIJING - For most of the last two decades, director Lou Ye has angered Chinese authorities by making movies that touch on sensitive subjects like sex and politics and then by screening them at foreign festivals without official approval. He's had multiple films banned, and was barred for years from even practicing his craft. His newest work, the dark melodrama "Mystery," looked like a chance for the 47-year-old to come in from the cold. Lou received approval from China's censorship body before screening his movie at the Cannes International Film Festival in May. After the festival, he registered the $2.6 million noirish tale, made with 20% French financial backing, as an official French-Chinese co-production.

An artist in Kansas is claiming censorship over his unflattering depiction of Gov. Sam Brownback. David Loewenstein wrote on his personal blog that his print showing the politician as a demonic figure featuring the words "Reject Brownback" was taken down from a Topeka cafe. Brownback, a Republican, has also served as a U.S. representative and senator from Kansas. He was elected governor in 2010. Brownback received national attention last year when he eliminated the Kansas Arts Commission, making Kansas the first state to completely do away with arts funding.  After intense pressure from arts advocates, Brownback somewhat reversed his decision by restoring some arts funding.

When aliens besiege Earth in Universal Pictures' recent action film"Battleship," it is the Chinese authorities in Hong Kong whom Washington credits with delivering the early proof that these invaders aren't exactly homegrown. But those aren't the only Chinese do-gooders on screen these days. In "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,"a romantic comedy about building a dam in the Mideast, Chinese hydroelectric engineers showed off their know-how; the original book included no such characters.

GUANGZHOU, China -- Communist Party officials appear to have defused a potential crisis over media censorship in Guangzhou with a compromise that persuaded journalists at a maverick newspaper to publish Thursday as planned. The journalists at Southern Weekly, one of China's boldest and most popular publications, had threatened to strike in protest over a New Year's editorial on political reform that was watered down by propaganda officials. The exact terms of the deal were not released, but it appears that the journalists agreed to refrain from airing their grievances in public about Tuo Zhen, the propaganda chief for Guangdong province accused of the heavy-handed censorship that sparked the standoff.

U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima reached the only possible conclusion recently in the case brought on behalf of six films that had been denied "certificates of educational character" by the United States Information Agency. The judge properly ruled that the process by which the agency chooses which films to certify, thereby granting them favorable tax treatment abroad, is unconstitutional on its face. The government may not decide what is truth.

There was a time when Hollywood mainstays like Lucille Ball and Jack Benny would come to the Santora to be seen at Daniger's Tea House. More recently, people like Joseph Atilano Molina have been drawn to the 1920s-era building in downtown Santa Ana for its appeal as a haven for artists, who set up studios and galleries in the warren of lofts that filled the place. Now the Santora - a civic building block when Santa Ana was Orange County's undisputed downtown - is about to be purchased by a church.

Re "Silencing Sebelius," Editorial, May 18 Last month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishopscondemned Rep. Paul D. Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget as contrary to Roman Catholic social doctrine. Also, dozens of faculty members at Georgetown University issued an open letter protesting Ryan's speech at the school. Yet The Times did not editorialize on this attempt to "silence" Ryan. At issue here is not the silencing of Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, but a protest against a Catholic institution providing a forum to a Catholic who has publicly challenged the doctrines of her own faith.